JESUITS GONE WILD: Two gay students allowed to attend Junior Ball together

[kpete]

Jesuits Gone Wild
By mistermix March 29th, 2013

This letter from Father Edward Salmon, President of McQuaid Jesuit High School, in support of his decision to allow to gay students to attend the Junior Ball together, should be included in any dictionary definition of “Jesuitical”. He name-checks his fellow Jesuit, Pope Francis like he was a brother, and by the time you get to the last paragraph, his cherry-picking of the words of Francis and the bishops will have you believing that the whole Catholics-hating-the-gays thing is just a big misunderstanding:

...

In that same message, Always Our Children, the Bishops are clear –“Nothing in the Bible or in Catholic teaching can be used to justify prejudicial or discriminatory attitudes and behaviors.” The Bishops continue: “It is also important to recognize that neither a homosexual orientation, nor a heterosexual one, leads inevitably to sexual activity. One’s total personhood is not reducible to sexual orientation or behavior.” In that same message, the Bishops refer to a 1986 Letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which emphasizes that “Respect for the God-given dignity of all persons means the recognition of human rights and responsibilities. The teachings of the Church make it clear that the fundamental human rights of homosexual persons must be defended and that all of us must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice, oppression, or violence against them.”

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With this decision I am not contradicting the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church with regard to human sexuality; I am not encouraging nor am I condoning homosexual activity just as I do not encourage or condone heterosexual activity at a dance. I am not contradicting the Church’s opposition to the redefinition of marriage. With this decision I invite and encourage us all, as Pope Francis does, to exercise care, protection, goodness which calls for a certain tenderness “which is not a virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness.”

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No matter what kind of a pretzel shape Fr. Salmon’s letter takes, it shows some guts, and it’s pretty insightful and tolerant considering that he’s pushing 75. He’s brave to risk the wrath of conservative bishops and other church members by writing this letter. But he’s also not stupid. Keeping those boys out of prom would have risked the fat stacks his school takes in from non-Catholics who want their kids well-educated, but who also don’t want to send their kids to a place with a 15th century attitude towards homosexuality. If only the rest of the church had a few more realists like Fr. Salmon in charge.


MORE:
http://www.brightonpittsfordpost.com/latestnews/x1551272394/Two-gay-McQuaid-students-allowed-to-attend-Junior-Ball-together
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/03/29/jesuits-gone-wild/

[JohnnyLib2]

1. Gutsy to swim against the tide.

Kind of amazing, really.

Rec.

[kestrel91316]

2. I applaud the guy. He's doing the best he can without

risking excommunication. I like that he is working from WITHIN the church to promote acceptance of gays to the extent he can.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. that's great. I hope the students have a fun at their dance. It is their dance just as much as it is

the other students.